Susan’s report from her visit with cat rescue groups in Italy.

I took a marvelous three week trip to Italy in late October early November. I visited a number of the cat organizations Friends of Roman Cats help support including DINGO in Venice, Amici Mondo Animale in Florence, Bagno a Ripoli, Torre Argentina Sanctuary in Rome (who sterilized over 4,000 cats and over 100 dogs last year), the Cats of Piramide who are also in Rome, and Dorothea Friz at Lega Pro Animale near Naples. Dorothea was just back from a successful but tiring two week spay-a-thon in the outskirts of L’Aqulia in the Abruzzo, the site of a serious earthquake last spring.

It was great being able to connect with Donatella Capuzzi, who has become a good friend. Donatella and another friend had traveled several hours from the town of Brescia to help catch some un-neutered cats for the DINGO rescue group on The Lido, a small island off of yet still part of the city of Venice.

I met a new cat rescue group in the lovely town of Siena, near Florence run by the energetic Gigi Favara. The city of Siena gives him and his group a very nice little house to keep cats before and after being spayed/neutered. The city also pays the public health veterinarians to do the sterilizing. Near the end of my trip I went with a long-time Torre Argentina sanctuary volunteer, Luana, to visit the Verano Cemetery in Rome, where over 500 feral cats live. Luana has taken on the daunting task of feeding, monitoring and catching the remainder of cats who so far have been too clever to be trapped for sterilization.

As a result of meeting with these hard working and dedicated groups, we have an order in for at least 18 more humane traps. Our trap donation program has been very successful and we urge anyone who wants to help these beautiful Italian stray cats to make a donation toward the purchase of a trap. If you have a particular Italian cat group that you would like to support let us know and the trap will go directly to them.

Happy Holidays,

Susan